


salvage

by madamerenard



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/F, F/M, Late Night Conversations, Telepathy, exes sort of, it's complicated - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24528916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamerenard/pseuds/madamerenard
Summary: Silly Goddess, imagining things that cannot be. Whatever are You pondering? That We would be companions?...Lovers?Oh, Hydaelyn.
Relationships: Hydaelyn/Minfilia Warde, Hydaelyn/Zodiark (Final Fantasy XIV)
Kudos: 10





	salvage

Zodiark stirs to consciousness. 

Hydaelyn knows this, and no fear grips Her heart. At seven times Rejoined, Zodiark has been waking with the push and pull of aspected aether - but still too weak to act. His only choice is to speak, and speak to Hydaelyn He does.

The first few times He awakened, He had some choice words for Her. Insults and angry tirades were hurled at Her. After a while of pointless arguing, She had learned to let Him have His divine temper tantrum in silence. And eventually, He settled, and spoke to Her calmly...in a way that made Her heart ache for the past. Before the Sundering.

**Good evening, Hydaelyn.**

Is it evening? The aetherial sea holds no such passage of time. The ever-constant sun shines upon Her, as if mocking. There is no night for Her anymore.

_How was Your slumber?_

**Oh, very pleasant.** Bitterness seeps into His words. **I believe I am ready to get back to work.**

_You knoweth full well I cannot set You free._

A long-suffering sigh. **Yes, Hydaelyn. I know well.**

Silence for a few moments more. Hydaelyn can feel Him, but She chooses to pretend otherwise, watching Her children in the reflection of crystal.

**Wherefore is thine Emissary?**

Hydaelyn’s heart lurches. It takes Her a moment to answer.

_I hath sent her unto the First shard, to undo thine minions’ machinations._

**Pity. Her presence livened You in a way I hath not seen since the time before.**

_She...is not dead._

It sounds weak to Her ears. Had She already given up hope?

**Oh, Hydaelyn.**

His voice - filled with pity - fills Her with angry shame and raw pain. It was ever a gamble, sending Minfilia there. She hardly wanted to let her go in the first place - She wanted so badly to be selfish, to keep Minfilia with Her for the rest of Her eternity. But Minfilia had insisted. For the ones who were lost. For the ones she could still save. Minfilia’s heart would ever bleed and bleed for others until there was no blood left. 

And left Hydaelyn so painfully alone once more.

**Weep not, Goddess of Light. Any of the Sundered You deemeth precious will live again once fallen. Such are the laws of the star You hath set forth.**

_...Do You think the same applies to Us?_

This stuns Zodiark into contemplative silence. **Whyever would We need another life?**

_A chance at redemption. But such things are beyond Us, are they not?_

Zodiark is silent. 

_...Would things between Us be different, in some other life?_

**Silly Goddess, imagining things that cannot be. Whatever are You pondering? That We would be companions?**

Hydaelyn tries to answer, but finds the shame too much to bear.

**...Lovers?**

She does not answer, which is answer enough. Zodiark chews this over in silence. 

**Are We not akin to lovers in this life? I of the Dark, You of the Light; two opposing polarities, and yet, mankind requireth both in equal measure.**

Hydaelyn is already remembering it: the time when She and Zodiark were hailed together - the time He had looked on Her gratefully for Her aid, not in fear and hatred as His primal nature consumed Him.

**We could have ruled together. Our children, safe and happy under Our loving arms.**

_Such a wonderful world. If only there had been some way I could have saved You._

Zodiark is silent for a very long time. So long that Hydaelyn almost thinks He’s gone back to sleep. Then, he rumbles:

**Is it not thrilling, Hydaelyn, to not know what the future holds? For us gods, in all Our power, to be so helpless against a simple thing like fate?**

Hydaelyn supposes there is some truth to that. But to give in to Zodiark means the death of more children, and She cannot abide that. Too many She has lost already. Zodiark does not press it; He leaves Her musing.

**I tire, Hydaelyn. Weave me a dream.**

She lifts spindly fingers on command, curling them to shake off a thousand years of disuse. And She weaves, crafting a beautiful dream that will placate Him for a while. A dream of happiness and love, borrowing precious moments She has witnessed from Her children.

She sends it to the moon as one would blow a kiss. His presence fades, dipping down into Her dream.

For Her part, Hydaelyn dreams as She always does: of Darkness, cool, dark, and soothing against Her burning flesh.

**Author's Note:**

> not pictured: Hydaelyn sending Him naughty dreams. to relieve His frustration, of course. :eyes:


End file.
